§ 370-AA — State heating fuel crisis assistance

* § 370-aa. State heating fuel crisis assistance. 1. The commissioner\nshall establish a state program to provide heating fuel related crisis\nassistance to households whose total income from all sources is between\none hundred twenty-five percent and two hundred percent of the federal\ncommunity services administration poverty guidelines and who have not\nreceived a grant for heating fuel assistance during the nineteen hundred\nseventy-nine--nineteen hundred eighty winter from any other emergency or\nenergy assistance program. To the extent funds are available, such\nhousehold may apply and be eligible for assistance if the household is\nthreatened with shut-off or nondelivery of heating fuel due to\nnonpayment and in the case of a one person household, the household's\nliquid resources do not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars or in\nthe case of households of more than one person liquid resources do not\nexceed two thousand two hundred fifty dollars. Liquid resources shall\nmean those resources which are in cash or are financial instruments\nwhich are convertible to cash.\n 2. Eligible households with incomes between one hundred twenty-five\npercent and one hundred fifty percent of the federal community services\nadministration poverty guidelines may receive a total benefit not to\nexceed two hundred dollars; eligible households with incomes between one\nhundred fifty per cent and one hundred seventy-five percent of the\nfederal community services administration poverty guidelines may receive\na total benefit not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars; and eligible\nhouseholds with incomes between one hundred seventy-five percent and two\nhundred percent of the federal community services administration poverty\nguidelines may receive a total benefit not to exceed one hundred\ndollars. Eligible households which pay for heat directly may receive\nbenefits in the form of direct payment to suppliers of home heating\nfuels. All households may receive assistance in the form of cash up to\nfifty dollars for warm clothing, blankets, replacement of broken window\npanes, firewood, temporary shelter, emergency repairs to heating\nequipment, nutrition, health and other supportive services. In no event\nshall the sum of assistance under this program made to or on behalf of\nany household exceed the actual amount needed to ameliorate the heating\nfuel crisis.\n 3. a. Assistance may also be provided to households whose rent\nincludes heat. Such assistance may be provided only in the event that\nthe owner of the rented dwelling has abandoned responsibility for paying\nheating costs. Such assistance may be in the form of emergency heating\nfuel deliveries.\n b. Such assistance shall be provided for a period not to exceed\nfifteen days, in order to allow time for appropriate action to be taken\nby city or county officials.\n c. In such cases where the landlord or owner has abandoned his\nresponsibility for paying heating costs, and where tenants or landlords\ncan verify that at least sixty percent of the building's households are\nat or below two hundred percent of the federal community services\nadministration poverty guidelines, the buildings may qualify.\n d. The department shall make all reasonable efforts to recover from\nthe landlord, emergency expenditures for heating fuel.\n 4. This program shall be administered at the county level and in the\ncity of New York by the local departments of social services. Local\ndepartments shall distribute funds allocated for heating fuel crisis\nassistance to eligible households for the payment of heating fuel costs\nas described in subdivisions two and three of this section. The\ndepartment shall prepare application forms for use by the local\ndepartments and instructions to be used in completing applications.\nCertification of eligibility and authorization of payment shall be the\nresponsibility of the local departments. The local departments shall\nprovide for preliminary screening and assistance to applicants by\ncommunity action agencies, area offices on aging and other community\nagencies.\n 5. The department and local departments shall contract for the\nprovision of an outreach program to inform potentially eligible\nhouseholds of the availability of heating fuel crisis assistance. The\ndepartment shall enter into an agreement with the state office for the\naging which will provide outreach to the elderly and with community\naction agencies and other community based agencies for outreach to other\npotentially eligible households. The department shall develop program\nmaterials which will be made available to utilities, fuel oil dealers\nand community agencies for the purpose of informing the public about the\navailability of crisis assistance.\n 6. Elderly persons over the age of sixty shall be a priority class to\nbe served by this program. To insure the priority becomes operational,\nlocal departments shall provide directly or when appropriate through\ncontract the following special services to the elderly: priority in\nscheduling appointments; arrangements for transportation when no other\ntransportation is available; intake and certification at home or through\na representative for those elderly who are homebound.\n 7. Payments made under this program shall not be considered as income\nor resource for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits\nunder any income maintenance or medical assistance program.\n 8. The department shall be responsible for monitoring the local\nimplementation of this program. All cases including a declaration of\nincome shall be subject to a redetermination and verification of income\neligibility. To insure that the elderly receive priority, the department\nshall periodically review the population certified to receive benefits\nand in districts where the elderly are not being served shall, with the\nstate office for aging, take appropriate actions to ensure that the\nelderly are served. The department and local districts shall maintain a\nsystem of records for this program which is separate from any other\nemergency or energy related assistance program.\n No later than July thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty, the\ndepartment shall provide the governor and legislature with a report on\nthe state heating fuel crisis assistance program's implementation and\nuse in each district. Such report shall include the total number of\nhouseholds and the number of elderly households served in each income\ncategory, the amount and type of assistance provided to each household\nand the activities and expenditures for all administering and outreach\nagencies in each district.\n 9. The department shall promulgate all regulations necessary for\noperation of the state heating fuel crisis assistance program which are\nconsistent with the state plan for the nineteen hundred eighty community\nservices administration energy crisis assistance program.\n 10. Within the amounts appropriated therefor funds will be made\navailable to each social services district for heating fuel crisis\nassistance. If a county or city social services district incurs\nexpenditures in excess of its allocated amount, the county or city as\nthe case may be shall be liable for such expenditures. Funds will be\nallocated by the department according to the following formula: Five\npercent of the funds shall be set aside by the department to be used in\nmeeting any unanticipated heating fuel related crisis caused by\nespecially severe weather. All remaining funds and set aside funds which\nare unexpended by April first, nineteen hundred eighty shall be\nallocated according to the following formula: Twenty percent of the\nfunds shall be allocated equally to every county and the remaining\neighty percent shall be allocated to the fifty-seven counties outside\nthe city of New York and the city of New York based on the corrected\nproduct of the percentage of state's poverty population residing in each\ncounty, the average heating degree days for the county divided by the\nstate average and the percentage of county population which is aged\ndivided by the percentage of state population which is aged.\n When thirty percent of the funds are obligated the department will\nreview the expenditures of program funds for the elderly with a view\ntoward increasing outreach and support services if this priority\npopulation is not being reached.\n When fifty percent of the funds are obligated, the department will\nreview the initial allocation to determine variances in utilization and\nmake appropriate adjustments or transfers.\n 11. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the commissioner determines that\na federally funded program of energy crisis assistance is in effect and\nis duplicative in whole or part to the program provided for in this\nsection the commissioner shall notify the local social services district\nin writing of such determination of duplication and the date after which\nstate reimbursement for all or part of the expenditures made pursuant to\nthis section shall not be authorized.\n 12. For purposes of this section, the term "home heating fuel" shall\nmean fuel oil, coal, wood, propane, natural gas, electricity, steam,\nkerosene and any other fuel when used for residential heating purposes.\n * NB Expired October 1, 1980\n